1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an on-line advertising system to broadcast advertising information about products and services on a network in on-line shopping using a network, and its method.
2. Description of the Related Art
At present, in on-line shopping using the Internet, a WWW (World Wide Web) Server compiles access log information to determine the needs of users who access the WWW Server. In this kind of on-line shopping, in a system that provides advertising of products and services, the user uses existing media (telephone and FAX inquiries) to order and purchase products and services carried on the WWW Server.
FIG. 1 shows an existing on-line shopping system. In FIG. 1, System 1 of a service provider, who has a WWW Server, is connected to user terminal 2, which has a WWW browser, via the Internet 4. A WWW browser is software that is able to easily jump to a site on the Internet 4 that has related information, and a target file, by using a pointing device on the screen of the user terminal 2 and performing a click operation. In FIG. 6, on-line shopping is performed by the following procedure:
1) The user accesses a WWW Server on the Internet 4; PA0 2) The user places a telephone call to an actual store 3(The XX Store) to order a product that he/she likes. (At this time, the normal telephone number 0272-52-8000 of Store 3 given in the advertisement is used); PA0 3) The Store 3 and the user discuss the matter, and when the customer decides to make the purchase, the product is shipped from the store 3.
However, the existing on-line shopping system described above has problems such as the following.
The frequency of access to, for example, a product that is listed is known, to some extent, from the WWW Server access log. Even so, since information related to ordering and purchasing does not pass through the WWW Server, it is not known how many of the users who accessed the WWW site actually purchased the product (the hit rate). In order for the provider to know whether and to what extent a certain product is selling, it is necessary to ask the actual store directly. However, some cases in stores also advertise in ways other than on line, such as in newspapers and magazines. In such cases, it is often impossible to determine whether the user's motivation to buy the product came from the advertisement on the Internet or from some other information. For this reason, even if the store is asked how well the product is selling, it is difficult for the provider to determine the effectiveness of the on-line advertisement.
In another case, the store may for example, open another telephone line exclusively for Internet use. All that is known is how many times calls to that telephone number were received. Consequently, the above problem cannot be solved unless the store itself consciously goes to the trouble to collect statistics on telephone calls received.